Smoldering Embers
by Gray-Rain Skies
Summary: It was a crime of passion. [AxelKairi]


For **ninja . butterfliie**, or Caitlan.

A Kaixel. (rips hair out) Frankly, I think this is rather horrid. (cannot...write...Kaixel) But I wanted to try, because, yeah, I'm weird like that. _Any_way, the pairings are really screwy here; would probably be onesided Axel _x _Kairi, hinted Axel _x _Roxas, hinted Sora _x _Kairi. Yeah. Heh.

Probably the last time I ever write a Kaixel, too. I just can't believe I pulled off KH canon.

**Disclaimer**: Um...no.

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Kairi, Princess of Heart.

She was a painfully beautiful rose.

The princess had fire to her, a thing which he could appreciate. It had made his eyes dance, to see her turn to him so stubbornly, red hair a shock against the blue of the sky, the glistening of the waves at their sides casting an ethereal glow against her porcelain skin. Walking around her with his smile posing a challenge, just watching her with a predatory mindset, he already felt a respect for such a young woman, a thrill of adrenaline pulsing through his veins in a way that a stuttering heartbeat could possibly rival. She had fight in her, flared with audacity, and as he addressed her, coyly playing with her wary feelings, enjoying the ranges of emotions on her delicate features, he decided that he could see why the Keyblade Master treasured this girl above any girl he could possibly have – what with his "hero-y" powers and all – even the witch, Naminé.

Kairi had spark. She had pride that could never sizzle out.

When she leapt into the portal, followed by that dog, and left him in the positively boring perfection that was Destiny Islands, his attention was hooked. Roxas had always offered him this delight, the volatile temper, the surge of anger – though it only a mimicry for his dear, departed friend – in darkened blue eyes, and the sharp insults always readied on the tongue. And where Roxas's personality couldn't possibly be in any way similar to the Keyblade Master's, coming from the stories he had overheard while lurking in the shadows, Axel saw traces of his closest friend in the girl, and so this little game of hide and seek became that much more to him.

Affection was warping his mind, though it was not out of his control. He allowed his thoughts to be manipulated, because he wanted the blond back, wanted his companion and best friend insulting him at his side once more; and the petite, fair-skinned redhead, so sharp and keen and strong-willed, offered him consolation.

He wasn't going to lose her.

She escaped to Twilight Town before he came across her again, and Axel almost weakened a little. The sights were forcing him to relive what seemed like ages ago, when he'd last seen Roxas, his being finally staying firmly in the stubborn blond's mind, his desperate actions and hopeful repetitions of "Got it memorized?" clicking – he'd seen it in Roxas's eyes – so that he wasn't just a fuzzy countenance in the boy's erased memories. But when he'd stepped into what he'd heard was called "the usual spot" – a pathetically sad excuse for a hang-out, he thought, if his opinion mattered any – his confident drawl didn't waver, and he was grinning, the mimicking emotions within his hollow chest nearly equal to happiness.

He dragged her off, her pitiful attempts to stop him making the grin on his face widen. Her will refused to snap, to break, to crumble into shards and settle uselessly within her, and her scathing insults that were meant to rip at his ego like rose thorns, voiced when they were through the portal and walking onwards, only served to amuse him more, his occasional eye roll and patronizing comments enraging the emotionally distraught girl.

His comment about expecting princesses to be docile and soft-spoken, and how she rather failed the criteria, _sorry_, thanks for playing, especially set her off.

But then his fun ended abruptly when his mission was completed. And Axel was far more than discontent when Kairi was placed in the dungeon.

At first, when he came to visit her, she was the same fresh, sharp rose she'd been when he'd met her, demanding escape, threatening that she'd slap that grin off of his features if he didn't let her go. And he'd appraised her calmly, leaning back on his heels, arms crossing over his chest as he tilted his head and drawled a "_Really?_" in a casual manner, thrilled at the spark that flared behind her indigo orbs and encouraged to tease her more.

She was a mosaic of blistering beauty against the holding-cell wall, and every time her temper crackled he craved for more of her fire.

But when he'd come back next, the time passing more rapidly than he'd accounted for, the girl hardly looked up, her tone accusing but hushed to the point where it seemed like the flames within her were dying down to embers. Jabbing at her, dancing about and grinning playfully because he wanted his rose to remain alive and it killed him to see her wither, he tried to get through to her, tried to get her to look up with those eyes so full of emotion, even if it was hatred; but she just shrugged her shoulders and buried her head in her knees, wrapping her arms around her shins as she fought stubbornly to keep her tears at bay until he left, the tremble of her voice evidence of that.

Sighing, running his fingers through his flare of red hair, Axel shook his head at her, finding it a waste that a girl so beautiful would not even fight back anymore. Weakness was unacceptable, after all. There was no fun in it, and Roxas had not given up…well, until the end.

Grinning ruefully, a disbelieving laugh making his eyes widen as his hand tousled his blazing locks, he stared at the defensive girl, finding her even more similar to his long-gone blond friend than he'd ever imagined.

It was oddly comforting in such a tense atmosphere.

Letting his arms fall, walking with a confident swagger towards the portal he summoned for himself, he shook his head with the beginnings of a grin tilting the corners of his lips higher. "Kairi, Kairi, Kairi," he said softly, teasing note in his voice sparking a rustle from behind him. He stopped, back to her, eyes shifting to catch sight of her from his peripheral vision, and smiled coyly. "Don't be such a disappointment, Princess. You're _far _more interesting with your overbearing temper."

She leapt to her feet. "Jackass!" she shouted, his slight laughter mingling with the echo of her musical voice as he disappeared into the darkness, reassured that she'd last a little longer. He didn't want to give her back, because she was such an amusing toy to manipulate, but he knew her fight wouldn't survive such a harsh place as this. So he was satisfied that, for the moment, the rage was searing her blood, giving her enough energy to live through her own, designated hellhole of a throne room.

Chuckling still, walking now in the halls of the castle, he crossed his arms and tilted his head, glittering green eyes narrowing with amusement. To think such a comment could enrage such a small girl; like Roxas, indeed.

He was going to miss her.

He visited the princess one last time, her rose-colored hair bleeding onto the wide tiles, a fiery path burning color into her holding cell. Dark lashes brushing against her porcelain skin, hand curled delicately under her chin, she looked like what he'd expect of a princess; elegant, tender, breath-taking.

Of course, the effect of her beauty only went so far as to diminish the derogatory grin slightly on his features, he without the heart to truly be swayed by her wealth of looks and gift of grace. Crouching beside her, idly tapping her forehead with an expression of boredom, he wondered if he could get a good shouting match from her before he left and never came back, but all he was rewarded with was a sigh, her lips curling into the first smile he'd seen since he'd kidnapped her. Humming slightly, placing his hands on his knees, Axel murmured her name, her lips moving in response but creating no sound.

Leaning back, he rolled his eyes, grinning against his will. Well _this _was no fun.

Attention falling back onto the redhead, gaze softening, he tapped his knee in thought.

She was truly exquisite, perfect in every sense of the word as he defined it. He would miss her, because she'd made him laugh almost in the same light-hearted way that Number Thirteen had, when the two would joke together late into the night and talk about how much Fate could screw itself, for all that it had done to ruin their so-called lives.

Running his hand, clad in black, along her cheek, he watched with interest as she shivered, vaguely wondering what it was like to have so many feelings. How overwhelming was it, to have only one heart to hold an infinite amount of emotions? How did people stand it? How weren't people crushed by it?

Well, he would probably never know, of course. Such was the fate of a Nobody.

Grinning despite himself, shrugging it off as just another thing that hardly concerned him, he leaned down, capturing the princess's lips in a nonchalant gesture, wanting to know what it felt like to caress another's mouth with his own. Her lips were soft, too, her touch feathery and somewhat sweet as she sighed softly in her slumber, his eyes flickering in amusement as he pulled away, touching his sleeve to his chin as he laughed softly at himself. He'd expected more, unfortunately, and so his small hopes were, as always, unrealized.

"Sora…"

Brows arching, Axel eyed his stolen princess as she smiled softly, curling her legs closer to her chest as her eyes fluttered, dreams no doubt filling her mind and relieving the sadness that had so long plagued her. Nodding, feeling his mockery of jealousy was somewhat indecent, he grinned devilishly as he rose to his feet, saluting the princess in a false sort of way as he stepped back, eyes glancing over her gentle, blooming form for the last time.

"Sora didn't get your first kiss, Kairi. I did. Got it memorized?"

Arm falling away from his forehead and ending in a showy wave, Axel grinned, eyes gleaming as if respond to an amusing joke, and turned on his heel, boots clicking on the floor as he walked to the portal. He would have to leave his rose behind, that he knew, because he couldn't have her thinking that he was the _good _guy. That would just ruin all the fun.

Darkness surrounding him for seconds and then a new hallway stretching before his feet, Axel stretched his arms over his head as he worked taut muscles out of his back, without the heart to care that he would not see Kairi again.

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(dies) So...yeah. How 'bout that. Anyway, please review.


End file.
